Menu

Some Essentials Tips for Watercolor Painting

One of the most forgiving, yet most challenging, types of painting is watercolor painting. Watercolors can either be highly fun or highly frustrating to use, depending on whether you are applying them correctly or not. In this guide, I will talk about some important tips you should always keep in mind when working with watercolors. While there are different techniques to work with this medium, I will focus on wet-in-wet watercolor painting as that is my personal favorite.

This watercolor technique involves the application of watercolor on wet paper. This leads to very spontaneous results at times, where colors flow and mix with one another unpredictably. However, there are still some ways you can maintain control over your work.

The Paper is Important

You can’t start working with this technique on just any paper. It’s important to have paper that is sturdy and absorbent so that it holds up to the applied water and pigment for longer. Try different papers and see which one you like best. The longer a paper can allow water to float on it, the more control you will have over your paint.

The Timing is Crucial

If you apply paint to a very shiny and wet part of your paper, it’ll spread out a lot and create dazzling tones of itself. If the paper is too dry, the paint will not spread but rather stay bright and smooth. It’s important, therefore, to know what kind of effect you want any applied color to have on the painting. If you need your colors to mix with one another, then apply water to the paper first, and if you need your colors to stay plain and bold then let the paper dry out a little.

Corrections are Easy

One of the best thing about watercolors is that you can always make corrections, provided that the paint is non-staining and the paper is still wet. All you need to do to fix a mistake is to use a wet brush and ‘lift’ the unwanted paint from the paper. You’d be surprised to see how well this simple way to take paint off of paper works.

Armed with these three very simple tips, you should be able to create some stunning watercolor paintings of your own. Be sure to experiment a little and practice as much as possible so that you’re confident with the medium.